Brinno Time-Lapse Camera: A Dedicated Gadget For Making Nothing But Time-Lapse Videos

October 18, 2011

Single-purpose devices are awesome. Until smartphones begin cannibalizing their features, of course. In the meantime, the Brinno Time-Lapse Camera should serve its single function better than your multi-purpose gadgets.

Having been designed specifically for snagging time-lapse videos, there are no complex settings to program and no extra equipment to hook up. Just set it up where you want and push a button. And it takes real videos, too (.AVI), instead of a series of image files that you'll have to stitch together into a sequence.

The Brinno Time-Lapse Camera measures a compact 2 x 4 x 8 inches and weighs 0.5 lbs. It comes with 2GB flash drive integrated (expandable to 8GB), where you can save recordings at 1280 x 1024 resolution (up to 200 frames only for the default storage, though). You can set it to shoot in both standard and macro views at one of six settings: 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours and 24 hours.

Since a lot of time-lapse videos are shot for outdoor scenes, the camera is clad in water-resistant construction, so your video doesn't end up cooked in case it rains. Oh, and if you got bird dropping problems, not to worry -- the lens is recessed to minimize the chances of dirt getting in the way. It also has a standard tripod mount, so you can use it with your Tiltpod or Gorillapod Micro for tougher shooting angles.

Sure, you probably have one or two other gadgets that can do time-lapse videos. We doubt they get them done as simply as the Brinno Time-Lapse Camera, though. It's available now, priced at $149.